Two For One Friday

I feel like I’ve cheated my readers lately, so I’m offering two links that are kind of related.

Well, they’re related in the sense that both links are about making beautiful things.
And, I’m sharing two links this week because, well, I realize how distracted I’ve been by so many things outside my control and the way I deal with that is by trying to be of service to others.  It brings me back to center and helps me get a better perspective on life.  So, in that vein, I decided to share two links this week.  One to a free design course and one of use to Lightroom users.

First, the design course.
Well, to be more accurate, it’s a series of design lessons or projects.  Of course, since we’re all on-line now, these are primarily geared toward on-line design and they’re all software-based in some way.  The site is Hack Design.  What  you do is go sign up with your email address, and then just sit back as they send you regular lessons on design.  Or, as they put it, “… a digestible and iterative lesson plan so you can apply this [design] knowledge to your own projects.”  Or, if you’re in a hurry or have a particular problem, you can go to the full list of their lessons and just pick and choose the one’s you want.
They have a list of tools they suggest, and that are used in the lessons, but don’t worry too much if you don’t have all the tools they list.  For one thing, not every lesson needs every tool, and for another, there are plenty of quite serviceable substitutes that you are probably familiar with that will work just fine.

The other link I’m sharing is inspired by two things; my chosen photography software and having received my tax refund on Wednesday so I can update it, thanks to TurboTax.
Yes, of course, I’m talking about Lightroom.  And, yes, I’m excited to have finally updated to the latest version, even if I’m not taking so many photos these days.  Maybe having 230 free Lightroom “presets” to “improve my photos will inspire me to get out there shooting more.  (For those of you not familiar, “presets” are groups of settings that will apply a certain look to a photo in Lightroom, like a 40’s black and white exposure setting, or a 70’s “point-and-shoot” consumer film camera, for instance.)

Hopefully, one of those links will inspire you get creative this weekend!